had been prior instances of Chinese citizens filing complaints about abuses under the one-child policy, Chen's initiative was the first class-action lawsuit to challenge its implementation. Although the suit he filed was rejected, the case garnered international media attention. Responding to questions about Chen's allegation, a senior official with the National Population and Family Planning Commission told The Washington Post that the practice of forced abortions and sterilizations was "definitely illegal", and indicated that the complaints were being investigated. "If the Linyi complaints are true, or even partly true, it's because local officials do not understand the new demands of the Chinese leadership regarding family planning work", said the official. In September 2005, the commission announced that several Linyi officials had been detained. But local authorities in Linyi retaliated against Chen, placing him under house arrest in September 2005 and embarking on a campaign to undermine his reputation; the Linyi officials portrayed him as working for "foreign anti-China forces", pointing out that he had received foreign funding for his advocacy on behalf of disabled people. Detention and trial On September 7, 2005, while Chen was in Beijing to publicize his class action lawsuit against the Linyi city family planning staff, he was reportedly abducted by security agents from Linyi and held for 38 hours. Recounting the incident to foreign journalists, Chen said that authorities threatened to levy criminal charges against him for providing state secrets or intelligence to foreign organizations. After Chen refused negotiations with local officials to cease his activism, Linyi authorities placed him under effective house arrest beginning in September 2005. When he attempted to escape in October, he was beaten. Xinhua, the news agency of the Chinese government, stated that on 5 February 2006, Chen instigated others "to damage and smash cars belonging to the Shuanghou Police Station and the town government" as well as attack local government officials. Time reported that witnesses to Chen's protest disputed the government's version of events, and his lawyers argued that it was unlikely he could have committed the crimes due to his constant surveillance by police. Chen was removed from his house in March 2006 and was formally detained in June 2006 by Yinan County officials. He was scheduled to stand trial on 17 July 2006 on charges of destruction of property and assembling a crowd to disrupt traffic, but this was delayed at the request of the prosecution. According